The Chilean network fused academics, big business, and military force to implement its ideas.
Evidence
The academics in question did not restrict themselves to the academic sphere. Quite a number of key neoliberal economists were ready and willing to help create political circumstances favorable to testing their ideas in the “real world,” rather than to simply wait for an occasion to do so. Intellectual projects, in their turn, were dependent on crucial external partners in order to succeed. Big business, always an important political actor in Chilean history, provided critical funding and media channels indispensable to influence public opinion and to destabilize the existing system. Last but not least, the military provided the necessary force to overthrow the duly elected Allende government when the right-wing opposition forces lost all hopes of achieving their ends through electoral change. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1565
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes the Milan/Volcker Pelerin meeting account and the theme of the network’s readiness to act politically, not just theorize. — connects to: ODEPLAN functioned as an insulated think tank seeding ideologically cohesive technocrats across Chilean ministries — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1572; Military coercion, not free markets, secured the submission Chilean shock therapy required — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 342; Chicago-trained economists spread neoliberal ideas among Chilean capitalists through business associations — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1557 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- ODEPLAN functioned as an insulated think tank seeding ideologically cohesive technocrats across Chilean ministries
#expands(0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1572 - Military coercion, not free markets, secured the submission Chilean shock therapy required
#expands(0.80) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 342 - Chicago-trained economists spread neoliberal ideas among Chilean capitalists through business associations
#expands(0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1557 - Chicago-trained economists filled key Chilean ministries under Pinochet
#corroborates(0.78) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1624 - Chicago-trained economists were placed throughout the Chilean state before the 1973 coup.
#corroborates(0.72) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1552